Political Quotes

“We agree that requiring housing authorities to set a minimum rent of 30 percent is a mistake. Let me be fair to a man I voted for a couple of times, Ed Brooke. Ed Brooke did not do that. Ronald Reagan did it and Gramm-Latta did it. The Brooke amendment was never a floor on rents. The Brooke amendment set a cap on rents, 25 percent. Ronald Reagan came along and said, no, no, 25 percent is too low; we will make it 30 percent, and we will make it both a floor and a ceiling. Yes; if you say automatically that, if your income goes up, your rent goes up, there is some disincentive. Our amendment does away with that. We put a cap on of 30 percent but no minimum. And what does the gentleman from New York say? I am astonished that he could not come up with a better argument. He says, do not have a cap without a floor. Because if you have a cap without a floor, here is what he just said, the housing authorities hurting for money will go to the absolute limit.”